Saints and Suffering: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 49- As the wind picks up

Uchiha Izaru had gathered the ninja strategists as soon as he had heard that Kumo had destroyed his ancestor's statue at the Valley of the End. Try as they might, none could dissuade him from his decision to attack, so the best minds in the field, hailing from clan and civilian family alike, nameless nobodies, shoulder to shoulder with Naras and Aburames, scraped their brains for every gambit and trick they could think of.

The Konoha force had barely over 200 Chuunin and Jonin that were able to called upon for the upcoming assault, the most liberal estimate of Kumo's forces was a bare minimum of 1000.

Izaru could not be turned from his suicidal attack though. So the strategists had to come together and think of any plan that would have a snowball's chance in hell of working. Their only other option was to declare the man insane and revoke his commanding position, but a fatal flaw stemming from an event weeks prior suddenly revealed itself.

Since the Uchiha had been reorganized into the Shinobi forces after the dissolution of the Military Police, the largest single faction in the Konoha Military was the Uchiha Clan. In the 200 remaining shinobi on the Kumo front, over 20 were Uchiha, and their tempers were flaring as wildly as Izaru's was.

Any attempt to pull Izaru from his position, the first front commander in clan history, would lead to an instant mutiny among the Uchiha. The remainder of Konoha forces had no other choice than to follow them into the gates of Hell.

The only solace was that both sides had to play politics. Izaru had to pretend that he wanted to protect the First Hokage's Statue, he couldn't reveal that he was ordering an assault over the insult to Madara, that would get him removed from his position or even court-martialed upon his return, he could at least make an argument for preserving Konoha's honor this way.

The strategists played along too. Their plans would allow Izaru to extract his pound of flesh from Kumo for their insult and slight against his family, but the plan would still allow for Konoha to escape with forces somewhat intact.

Neither side, Uchiha or not, was happy with the plan. The Uchiha wanted to be more aggressive, and the rest of the army wanted to cancel the assault and retreat to Konoha.

A light and fast assault left both sides upset, which made it a true compromise.

An hour before sunrise, Konoha shinobi, in teams of 10 or more would independently launch counterattacks on enemy positions before immediately retreating after a single attack; they couldn't afford to get caught in any extended engagements. Izaru wanted to press the attack of course, but the strategists were able to force him to accept that they were unable to "protect" the Valley of the End indefinitely; they would have to retreat eventually.

Hyuga Hikaru and Akimichi Domaru found themselves among one of the assault teams, wearing the bloodied and damaged chuunin flak vests of their fallen comrades. No one said anything about it though. Any armor, used or not, was better than none. Most Konoha Shinobi were more concerned with surviving the coming attack than to tear into the young ninja for disrespect against the fallen. There was a time and place for such niceties and dignities, but not here, engaged in a losing war with massive casualties and hopeless prospects.

Besides, the dead had no such need for armor, and Izaru, in a decision that almost fragmented the Konoha forces instantly, had given a battlefield promotion to all genin that had survived the past several day's hostilities. Domaru and Hikaru had earned the right to wear those vests, and they had earned the right to accompany the rest of the chuunin and jonin forces in their foolish assault on a waited and fortified Kumo position.

Domaru and Hikaru's assault group was 12 shinobi, 2 of which were jonin, and the rest chuunin. Of the two jonin, one of them was the team commander and also a Hyuga from the Main Family, as shown by his uncovered and unmarked forehead.